Helped me get admin access on Windows 8.1. Used an old linux-live CD to change executable names and then reset the password. Worked perfectly. Not only solved my problem but also taught me something about the operating system. Bravo!!!!
I had been stressing out for over a week, tried Dell, tech friends, Geek Squad, and nothing. I mean I was crying. Then this. It worked without a hitch. Freakin' will always love you, James Miller! Kisses and hugs. You have NO idea how grateful I am to you.
I realize this is a 9 year old video, but I felt compelled to comment, if for no other reason than to solicit a more modern solution. I am a volunteer computer support tech (mostly working with senior citizens) and am often asked to "get around" or "reset" a password. More often than you might think, this is due to the passing of family member. Hoping this video might give me some additional ammunition, I watched with great interest - up to the 9:46 point. It was then that I felt you jumped over the problem that I see most often, which is how to make a computer boot to something other than the C:\ drive, I already know how to rename executables in order to get a command prompt at the login screen. The problem I am finding more often now (2021) is that modern EUFI (or "BIOS" for us old guys) are tightly controlled to prevent booting from a CD or USB. Every new HP or DELL or whatever, seems to be different; I find I am forced to activate the "Legacy" boot options, plus work though various boot orders, all the while guessing at many other EUFI options. Quite often, I find that after making the changes that seem to make sense, the machine still refuses to boot via CD or USB. I usually figure it out, but it seems that each time, it takes me longer and longer to do it. If anyone has any suggestions to do it faster, please post a reply. Thanks, -Phil in Indy
Indeed, booting on to an external drive is becoming more and more complicated, and would require at least one very long video to go over, or multiple videos that go over the different scenarios. My own Dell XPS laptop took multiple tries to be able to install Linux on it instead of the factory Windows.
I believe this is possibly the most valuable video I've seen around TH-cam. I went to see your others and was startled. Do you have another channel? You're an excellent teacher. I wanted to tell you: I volunteered for a thrift store whose proceeds provide medical and dental care for low income families, right in the same building. Occasionally, a computer would come in as a donation with no password. Into the dumpster it would have to go because it was beyond the electronics volunteer's abilities. There was nowhere to store them and they were unusable. That's how I found this video; searching for help for him. Now, I just remembered to search it out again. They sell nice computers for $25, so every one counts to help create income. I was asked to be the one to use this technique, so I need to get back to volunteering there. The sheer cleverness of it just delights my brain. Thank you for making the video and please do consider making more.
I have tried numerous other password reset approaches for Windows 7 64bit...None and I mean none of them worked. Your simple "elegant" process worked perfectly on the first attempt. I booted to drbl live, accessed terminal and mounted the windows disk read write, followed your steps and bingo!!! It worked. Many many thanks.
Hey man, just wanted to give you big thanks for this vide. I spend a day today trying different solutions and non of them worked except yours. Thank you!
In cases like that I just use a Linux live CD that has NTFS drivers. Most often the latest Ubuntu Live CD will work great. Thanks for the encouraging words! Glad I could help out.
G'day Wesley Had been given a mate's laptop to revive after he forgot his password, and spent hours trying to gain access without success. Your video was so easy to follow, and achieved the result we were after. Thanks so much! Cheers, Bob
Seriously brilliant. I tried maybe three methods of bypassing the password we put on our old computer and couldn't get anywhere...until I saw your video. Every single step worked perfectly for me and allowed me to finally get in. Once I was in I simply removed the password that was on the account through the Control Panel to completely get rid of that headache. An added bonus was bragging to my husband that "I hacked that bitch!" when he got off of work. Thanks so much!
Tip: If your username has a space, like mine did Jim Simpson, use quotes. so you have to type it in as follows net user "Jim Simpson" then type your new password and hit enter
Hey Wesley, I'm a sysadmin type dude in Perth Australia, just thought I would say your explanation and video is great, you obviously have taken some time to make this video and help people, I tried to look at your website, must be a cloudflare thing(it's down). I will subscribe and keep up the great work. Cheers
Thanks for the complements and also updating me with how you managed to get it to work for you! I didn't think to mention usernames with spaces in them. Great that you got it to work! =)
Sure You meant "𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 " as complements has a different meaning that being ᴀ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀɪʙᴜᴛᴇs ᴇxᴛʀᴀ ғᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇs ᴛᴏ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ ɪɴ sᴜᴄʜ ᴀ ᴡᴀʏ ᴀs ᴛᴏ ɪᴍᴘʀᴏᴠᴇ ᴏʀ ᴇᴍᴘʜᴀsɪᴢᴇ ɪᴛs ǫᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ.
@@Tshelton28 Correct, you'll need to find the drive letter for the hard drive itself. Try just typing `c:` or `b:` or even `d:` and hitting enter. You'll want to explore which disk is the internal Windows drive with a tool like diskpart at the command prompt.
nice video....but did not work. One question, since my computer says OSK not found, I did a search for *.exe and I can see a file called "ntoskknl.exe" since it has OKS in it, is this the on screen keyboard file? Did not want to change and screw thing more than what they are already. Thanks, (BTW, is a dell running Windows 7)
Returning here 2 years after I first saw the video, I realised just now how much I have learnt. I am so grateful for your channel, everytNice tutorialng
I've always just used a TRK (Trinity Rescue Kit) disc to boot up and blank passwords. I've had three legit occasions where this was necessary. One where an old fellow wanted to get pictures and other family docs off of his recently deceased brother's computer, one where an employee had left a company and had locked a workstation down that had company info on it, and one where a user had gotten a new laptop and had totally fubar'd the account setup and mistyped or forgotten the password he'd used to initially set up the account (another older fellow).
I watch many videos and none worked. Then I came across yours and IT WORKED. Wonderful!! I wanted to make it safe to sell. THANK YOU SO MUC H FOR SHARING.
Worked great... My daughter had a laptop she gave me..(win 10) Forgotten password... Used Linux thumb drive... at first it couldn't access the windows drive... complained that the windows partition wasn't clean... Suggested that windows wasn't shut down... found out that normal shutdown actually puts the system in hibernate mode... Needed to hold down the shift key when performing the shutdown to actually completely shut down the system... now had access! Second problem my daughter's account was linked to an email address(cloud) so I couldn't change the password... however i used the command prompt to enable the administrator account.. I was then able to access the laptop thru that account... deleted her account and created a new local user account. There were other issues... but now that I had a logon I worked those ok. All is good... Thanks!!!
@@JOK3R4LYF3-JL at star just keep tapping the F12 key until u c the bios menu. There shud b an option. Other way is to simply remove the CMOS lithium battery on the motherboard to reset the bios
Worked perfectly! Except... I was needing to reset a Windows 8 password and only had Windows 10 images... (tried, didn't work) so instead I just booted from a Linux LiveBoot USB and changed it through the Linux terminal instead. Worked like a charm! Thanks!
That's awesome. A friend gave me her laptop, that she couldn't remember the password for it. This little hack worked like a charm. Thank you. (Yeah, I know this is a 12 yr old video, just had to say thanks)
First, let me state how very well and professionally this video was done. Thank you. Next, this worked perfectly. My only mistake was to accidentally type in "rem" instead of "ren" for my instructions to rename the files. It's okay, I just have more work to do. Thanks for the help.
That's a tough spot. You'll somehow need to get the drivers for that storage card loaded so that you can see the hard drives. That's not something I can help with, sadly.
You have to go back through the process of booting into a live CD and changing the file names back. You can't change those file names while Windows is running.
You can change the files back, but have to go into the security settings in the properties of the files and change ownership and grant full rights to the files first.
I must say thanks, this has video has helped me many times in the past and even so now, and this really defines how vulnerable a computer is if you have physical access to it. I have used this method to help people get back into their computers without damaging anything and it also helped me for when I received a computer as a gift and they didn't include any of the passwords.
You deserve youtube award of the year. TNice tutorials video truly nails it! Very well explained... The way you cut the bullsNice tutorialt and get straight to it..
Great tutorial. It save me from downloading software to crack password. This tutorial is little bit time consuming because is explained every steps. Those who are in a hurry you can skip to 9:18. Thank you Wesley David
Thanks! Yeah I went more for a masterclass format, rather than a quick tutorial. Maybe I should make a second edition that just slams through it all in 3 minutes.
Worked. Thank you! I did need to do a 'net user' command to determine the list of users beforehand. This is because the user I expected to change was something completely different.
all i can say is this is a windows computer saver. worked perfectly, but i used a windows 7 home premium 64bit recovery dvd i had made for my system when i bought it the same day, i made it then. and it saved my butt today.
If you have physical access to the computer, you can always access any unencrypted files. Just take the hard drive and put in another computer where you have an OS installed. But the trick in this video is nice because you can more conveniently see the user account's settings and such.
That is what I am getting as well, with my old vista disk as well as my windows 7 disk. I tried older installs, like three XP disks but all three give me a BSOD after loading files and attempting to run their setup. I even tried a windows 98se but I think it doesn't recognize NTFS drives and I only had access to A:\ with that. I tried that "whoami" command from the command prompt and it is not recognized as an internal or external command. I think I'm going to remove my windows installation drive, install it into another computer and change the file names from there.
The basics. Secure room with solid door and good locks. Steel cabnet or cage for the system with good physical protection. Make sure your case has unique bit screws, (don't lose the bit!) Lock down your BIOS and HDD (if capable) with passwords. A chip based finger print scanner works nicely too. Disable and secure USB ports, epoxy works nicely :) Remove or disable external media drives. Rename the Administrator account with an ascii symbol, and password protect it with a complex password. Don't leave this blank *default*. Disable it AFTER you create your main standard user account. Finally, ENCRYPT EVERYTHING. Those are some ideas to SLOW DOWN unauthorized access on Windows. I've given up the idea of making systems "unhackable". There is no such animal. BUT at least I can make it a bitch to get into. They've got to earn it.
+Ivan Simer exactly what my instrutor in my IT classes taught us. (Nothing is unhackable, not even the government. Physical and virtual security of a computer is only as good as the defense you put into it) IT Security classes left me absolute sure of my security (read: paranoid, but thats to the uneducated lol, theres no such thing as paranoia in IT, only contingency plans and training lol) and here is the followin of mine. Laptop: BIOS/HDD User&Administrator Passwords randomized up to 10-14 characters each, but easy for me. (Must enter HDD&BIOS User/Admin passwrod to boot the system and continue boot up (used this to prevent CD boot loading or network OS loading before authentication. "first layer" of defense) -Secured admin accounts and only have 2 active on system (mine and a backup), reset Administrator account to a different name and reset password. Also enabled secure logon (ctl alt delte) and classic style of login (username and password before you can login, also works in sleep or hibernate, if you don't know it you're out of luck) A few other things ive done to harden my system from Network attack as well and overall encryption of files and such (double layered truecrypt file with different passwords and keyfiles with AES, hehe break me now b***h, I'll make sure you spend the next 30 years trying) XD
wawmjansens2 Yep, you're getting good info from your instructor. If someone really wants to get 'in', all it takes is time, money and mad skills. They might have to get down to circut board or even chip level but if you have engineering schematics for those, you can manipulate all kinds of stuff. At the least you can break or interrupt services. Remember when Microsoft announced that Windows Vista was unhackable? HAHA! Talk about begging to get owned. Never ever piss off a hacker or throw a challenge their way. Not a good plan. It amazes me that our entire infrastructure remains up. A lot of today's 'security' is actually obscurity. Massive flaws exist in the design of the internet infrastructure. Most servers and PCs have some fundamental flaws at the hardware level and certainly OS level. They are largely unknown but to a handful of people, thank god. But as more and more breaches happen, that obscurity becomes dangerously public.
HAHA YES i remember those days, Windows 8 too, we in our IT Sec classes actually took it down and infected it through a bad backdoor (which is now patched by our report to them afterwards) in less then 35 minutes. yeea we got told "Never challenege someone unless your prepared to back it up and that you have the knowledge AND skill to do so, cause you're a fool if you don't otherwise" Im shocked our infrastructure remains up too! but hey its what good engineers and techs are for, right ;) XD We are simply told, "well we are never safe, your network, software, and hardware are always at risk. Do your best with the skills we are gving you because otherwise you'll find yourself out of a job real fast if that breach is on your hands." hehehehe paraniod, you ask? I call it "being prepared and vigilant" XD
You are a godsend. I created a password earlier today when I became upset at my brother so he couldnt use my computer when I was gone. Later in the day (after like 7 hours) I just remembered I had set a password but had completely no idea what it was. Luckily I was still logged in so I didnt need to use the boot media. I simple just used the net user command in the command prompt. Sooooo easy, I was downloading these stupid ophhacker program and looking into screwing with the system32 files opposed to resetting the password from the computer management because I didnt want to mess with my EFS. This has helped me immensely, I thank you so much.
Wesley.......great job. When through numerous trial with "Crack" programs. None worked. Purchased a PC from a charity thrift store with Win Vista. Had PW from prev. user and no notes. Used Slax Lunix OS CD to make the changes. Became your 5K subscriber.
+Blahblah1734 Yes, it will. Just get a bootable device that can write to an NTFS volume. Even Ubuntu discs these days can do that. Rename cmd.exe and osk.exe, boot back up, and you'll be able to follow the video just the same.
+Wesley David Have to admit i have no clue what you mean when you say "get a bootable device that can write to an NTFS volume". (Im kinda new to all of this) Anyway all im trying to do is simply get onto my brothers computer. I locked myself out trying to set it up (its brand new) and we have no clue what the password is. I found a article on how to make a "booter" (or what ever its called) and im trying to follow how to put it on a flash drive then use your tutorial. The program im using is called MediaCreationTool. Idk if you know what that is but yea.
+Blahblah1734 That should work. Even Ubuntu CDs can work since they know how to read and write to a Windows drive. Whatever you do just boot into a different operating system from a CD or USB drive, then click your way to the hard drive, look for the Windows folder, etc. that you see in the video. Ultimately, just do whatever you need to do to get cmd.exe renamed to osk.exe and then reboot into Windows.
The BIOS is password protected? You can normally reset that with a switch on the motherboard. You'll need to look for the motherboard's manuals to find out how to clear the BIOS/CMOS password.
not if its an eeprom password holding chip. some u can change by taking the chip off and reprogramming it. or buy a compatible blank chip (some cant be reprogrammed) then soldering in its place (some u can program then solder in). u can also jump the chip by bypassing a few of the 8 prongs with a piece of solder. jumpers on motherboards are getting rare. it depends if its a laptop (especially newer workstation computers/laptops) or a PC as to the chances of the chip being able to be bypassed or not. Bios security by using a separate chip is becoming popular. Can try removing the cmos battery, and unplugging the PCs power (removing laptop battery to if its a laptop). if the below comments didn't work, and removing all power (batteries and cord) and waiting about 24hrs (you can speed up power drain by continuously hitting power button) didnt either you probably have a hardware powerless password retaining chip. search by the exact model and S/N P/N of the motherboard. For it to be nearly impossible to change then its a security centered workstation/server computer (meant to be secure even if lost/stolen dunno why youd have such a computer). if its not keep plugging away and work the problem. Chip programmers are cheap and have relatively simple software.
this efs method is useless, the point of that is , because well. if u loose ur password and change it like that... u change it because u obviously forgot it ! then how the fuck should you remember the old password to set it back again to acces the efs files... logicly ....
The old pSsword he configured is the one he made . Like when logged out and update psswds online . The device makes u use previous logged n psswrd before new one is set. Ugh
Some ungrateful comments from people with bad ass attitudes..... I thought it was a real eye opener and shows the shocking security gaps in MS products. At least EFS seemed to hold its own though. I saw the video on bypassing logon passwords by 'Ultimate Peter' and again the CMD prompt was the key, although it was needed with administrator rights, which MS kindly supplied with the right file changes made. If I could afford a MAC I would migrate tomorrow...... Thanks for the Vid... very clear
Ive been using the rename cmd.exe to Magnify. Then start windows at logon panel look for accessibility options and launch screen magnifier. If renamed correctly, now you should have a logged in command prompt. Now use 'net user "username" "new password" '
"If I could afford a MAC I would migrate tomorrow..." Every platform has its flaws and holes. Don't think that switching to a Mac would somehow make you invulnerable. I prefer Linux both personally and professionally and have found that preventing access to the root account is a waste of time since there are so many ways around the standard lock downs. ...and Linux is supposed to be ridiculously secure.
Mathew Snyder OpenBSD for the win. My choice, personally, though you're right no system is 100% secure. Although few folks have been able to figure out my OpenVMS system...even when they have a valid login.
I've just used this method to re-gain my account. I've always used auto-logon so totally forgotten it. Thanks Wesley. My PC is Windows 8.1 64bit by the way.
You guys are really not helping anyone. How do I use the machine I am locked out of to get back into that same machine??? What if a person doesn't have access to any other machine but the one that you are locked out of???
Vincent Patrick No they have not shown you how! This did not help me one bit!!! I am locked out of a desktop, don't remember the password, and I guess there is no hope for me. Just be real!!!
Carl Mitchell If you are operating Win7, simply start the system up and forcefully shut it down while booting a few times, eventually Startup repair will self activate (once it does, do not touch anything until it asks for user input) and will attempt to "fix" the problem and will probably recommend a System Restore (do not take the option, instead click no and go into Advanced Options), here you will find the Command Prompt option. (one hidden trick of the Recovery CMD is you effectually become the "system" account, like shown in the vid, which is unrestricted. I purposely disabled this setting in my 7 Professional group policy and local security editor to shut down this avenue for a hacker from doing this exact thing, and as such, any Admin level account must be pre-authenticated with proper password before the system will allow Admin/Root level access, just a tip to the wise minded, ok enough chatter) Type the following commands into your DOS Prompt as follows. -net user "your username of account you want access to here, exact spelling is preferred" followed by a space and a star ( * ) then hit enter -the system will prompt you at this point to enter a password, enter the NEW password you want here, and hit enter -confirm the password again exactly, then hit enter. The system will either complete the operation or will show "access is denied" if running a non admin session in the CMD prompt. Exit the command prompt and select "shut down" -Wait for the system to shut down and reboot the system, it might launch Startup Repair again, dont be alarmed if it does. Otherwise when the login screen appears, use the password you just entered to login.You have just reset your password the easy way. Any questions feel free to reply and i can assist. Thanks (I am not responsible for any misuse of this instruction which may lead to data or system loss)
dude… I'm a total Flintstone in a Jetson world. Tell me in caveman speak,… how I *get my HP PC online,…please sign in with last password used on this PC*… I have tried every password I remember but no dice!!… Tried Google, couldn't find how… Dawned on me 'TH-cam??'… BUT watched a few, cant find my same HP PC… Like I said, Sorry, … Newbie to cyber-ville. Any help explaining to a newbie … Appreciate it
Having tried a number of potential solutions that turned out to be blind alleys, it was a relief to find this excellent clip. The only snag I hit was due to the fact that the only Windows install disk I had was Windows 7 and Ms appear to have removed the menu used to access the recovery console. So renaming osk.exe and cmd.exe was a problem. There may be a better alternative but in the end I created a Linux bootable disk from the Linux site and, running Linux from the disk (obviously don't install), I was able to rename the two exe files. The rest was as per your instructions. Finally I used Linux again to reset the exe files to their original names. Many thanks.
Thanks...nice video. The EFS encrypted files....does Windows automatically encrypt the Documents, Photos, Videos, Downloads, etc. folder contents? Or were those files you had EFS?
Wesley I am in bad shape. Each time I turn on device (8.1) the password box appears. Have gone into safe mode to change boot path. I have created an 8.1 boot disk and the computer will not pay attention to it. Please please help me. This is for my 96 year old dad who did something to this device. Thank you
You left info out such as liveUSB which you listed as an option in your video. Thanks for your efforts to help, not hating. The burden is on me to dig a little deeper.
Helped me get admin access on Windows 8.1. Used an old linux-live CD to change executable names and then reset the password. Worked perfectly. Not only solved my problem but also taught me something about the operating system. Bravo!!!!
Can you advise on how to do it through linux? I have Ubuntu on a linux live but don’t know the actual commands in linux.
I had been stressing out for over a week, tried Dell, tech friends, Geek Squad, and nothing. I mean I was crying. Then this. It worked without a hitch. Freakin' will always love you, James Miller! Kisses and hugs. You have NO idea how grateful I am to you.
Watching this in 2019 and still works !!!!!!!! Thank you big time
Absolutely! I still use this method all these years later. =)
I realize this is a 9 year old video, but I felt compelled to comment, if for no other reason than to solicit a more modern solution. I am a volunteer computer support tech (mostly working with senior citizens) and am often asked to "get around" or "reset" a password. More often than you might think, this is due to the passing of family member. Hoping this video might give me some additional ammunition, I watched with great interest - up to the 9:46 point. It was then that I felt you jumped over the problem that I see most often, which is how to make a computer boot to something other than the C:\ drive, I already know how to rename executables in order to get a command prompt at the login screen. The problem I am finding more often now (2021) is that modern EUFI (or "BIOS" for us old guys) are tightly controlled to prevent booting from a CD or USB. Every new HP or DELL or whatever, seems to be different; I find I am forced to activate the "Legacy" boot options, plus work though various boot orders, all the while guessing at many other EUFI options. Quite often, I find that after making the changes that seem to make sense, the machine still refuses to boot via CD or USB. I usually figure it out, but it seems that each time, it takes me longer and longer to do it. If anyone has any suggestions to do it faster, please post a reply. Thanks, -Phil in Indy
Indeed, booting on to an external drive is becoming more and more complicated, and would require at least one very long video to go over, or multiple videos that go over the different scenarios. My own Dell XPS laptop took multiple tries to be able to install Linux on it instead of the factory Windows.
@@WesleyDavid Thanks for the reply, at least I now know that it is not just me who is having this problem.
Well done! Clearly narrated and explained. Great accompanying visuals and editing. All the hallmarks of a great video! Thank you.
I believe this is possibly the most valuable video I've seen around TH-cam. I went to see your others and was startled. Do you have another channel? You're an excellent teacher. I wanted to tell you: I volunteered for a thrift store whose proceeds provide medical and dental care for low income families, right in the same building. Occasionally, a computer would come in as a donation with no password. Into the dumpster it would have to go because it was beyond the electronics volunteer's abilities. There was nowhere to store them and they were unusable. That's how I found this video; searching for help for him. Now, I just remembered to search it out again. They sell nice computers for $25, so every one counts to help create income. I was asked to be the one to use this technique, so I need to get back to volunteering there. The sheer cleverness of it just delights my brain. Thank you for making the video and please do consider making more.
A
I've been using this method for a while now, I didn't know it was something that others' did until recently.
I have tried numerous other password reset approaches for Windows 7 64bit...None and I mean none of them worked. Your simple "elegant" process worked perfectly on the first attempt. I booted to drbl live, accessed terminal and mounted the windows disk read write, followed your steps and bingo!!! It worked. Many many thanks.
Hey man, just wanted to give you big thanks for this vide. I spend a day today trying different solutions and non of them worked except yours. Thank you!
Always welcome, my friend. =)
FINALLY SOMEONE WHO MAKES SENSE AND EXPLAINS EVERYTHING. I AM SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR INSTRUCTIONS BECAUSE I COULD FINALLY LOG INTO MY COMPUTER.
Very happy to have helped. 😁
In cases like that I just use a Linux live CD that has NTFS drivers. Most often the latest Ubuntu Live CD will work great. Thanks for the encouraging words! Glad I could help out.
It's truly astounding how easy the internet makes learning these days. Thanks for the tutorial, my guy.
Awsome dude! Thank you!! TH-cam needs more quality soles such as yours to raise those of us that need it :)
G'day Wesley
Had been given a mate's laptop to revive after he forgot his password, and spent hours trying to gain access without success. Your video was so easy to follow, and achieved the result we were after. Thanks so much!
Cheers, Bob
Great video. Precise, to the point and in plain language. Most importantly it works.
Where is this video
Seriously brilliant. I tried maybe three methods of bypassing the password we put on our old computer and couldn't get anywhere...until I saw your video. Every single step worked perfectly for me and allowed me to finally get in. Once I was in I simply removed the password that was on the account through the Control Panel to completely get rid of that headache. An added bonus was bragging to my husband that "I hacked that bitch!" when he got off of work. Thanks so much!
Tip: If your username has a space, like mine did Jim Simpson, use quotes. so you have to type it in as follows net user "Jim Simpson" then type your new password and hit enter
Todd!!! You da man !!! I was hitting a wall because my name had a space in it.... Thank you for the commet!
Hey Wesley, I'm a sysadmin type dude in Perth Australia, just thought I would say your explanation and video is great, you obviously have taken some time to make this video and help people, I tried to look at your website, must be a cloudflare thing(it's down). I will subscribe and keep up the great work. Cheers
Thanks for dropping a note. It was a fun vid to make! I had always hoped to make more, but alas... never did. Life gets in the way sometimes. :D
after spending 5 hours finally someone with the solution. Thank you so much
TNice tutorials is THE most helpful tutorial on TH-cam imo. I am starting production in Hardstyle, and I find soft soft really useful
Thanks for the complements and also updating me with how you managed to get it to work for you! I didn't think to mention usernames with spaces in them. Great that you got it to work! =)
Sure You meant "𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 " as complements has a different meaning that being ᴀ ᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀɪʙᴜᴛᴇs ᴇxᴛʀᴀ ғᴇᴀᴛᴜʀᴇs ᴛᴏ sᴏᴍᴇᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴇʟsᴇ ɪɴ sᴜᴄʜ ᴀ ᴡᴀʏ ᴀs ᴛᴏ ɪᴍᴘʀᴏᴠᴇ ᴏʀ ᴇᴍᴘʜᴀsɪᴢᴇ ɪᴛs ǫᴜᴀʟɪᴛʏ.
Wesley David hey my user name has spaces in it, how do I get it to work?
@@rossphillips6163 put the user name under " "
I used windows 10 media creation tool and shift f10 to bring up command prompt but it is x drive
@@Tshelton28 Correct, you'll need to find the drive letter for the hard drive itself. Try just typing `c:` or `b:` or even `d:` and hitting enter. You'll want to explore which disk is the internal Windows drive with a tool like diskpart at the command prompt.
I don't mind "So & Now".
It's "Actually & Basically" that drive me CRAZY!
Great video - thanks
nice video....but did not work. One question, since my computer says OSK not found, I did a search for *.exe and I can see a file called "ntoskknl.exe" since it has OKS in it, is this the on screen keyboard file? Did not want to change and screw thing more than what they are already.
Thanks, (BTW, is a dell running Windows 7)
What is the program for the onscreen keyboard if you figured it out I can't check myself
Google :-)
Then simply rename magnify.exe
Returning here 2 years after I first saw the video, I realised just now how much I have learnt. I am so grateful for your channel, everytNice tutorialng
I've always just used a TRK (Trinity Rescue Kit) disc to boot up and blank passwords. I've had three legit occasions where this was necessary. One where an old fellow wanted to get pictures and other family docs off of his recently deceased brother's computer, one where an employee had left a company and had locked a workstation down that had company info on it, and one where a user had gotten a new laptop and had totally fubar'd the account setup and mistyped or forgotten the password he'd used to initially set up the account (another older fellow).
I watch many videos and none worked. Then I came across yours and IT WORKED. Wonderful!! I wanted to make it safe to sell. THANK YOU SO MUC H FOR SHARING.
This literally just saved my life. Excellent tutorial.... Extremely detailed and simple to follow
Glad I could help! =)
Heh, I've done this before... Useful trick!
@@JohnWhite0388 so which one are you guys talking about bud
Worked great... My daughter had a laptop she gave me..(win 10)
Forgotten password... Used Linux thumb drive... at first it couldn't access the
windows drive... complained that the windows partition wasn't clean...
Suggested that windows wasn't shut down... found out that normal shutdown
actually puts the system in hibernate mode... Needed to hold down the shift key
when performing the shutdown to actually completely shut down the system...
now had access!
Second problem my daughter's account was linked to an email address(cloud)
so I couldn't change the password... however i used the command prompt to
enable the administrator account.. I was then able to access the laptop
thru that account... deleted her account and created a new local user account.
There were other issues... but now that I had a logon I worked those ok.
All is good... Thanks!!!
Awesome! Great to hear that it worked for you. :D
Thank you! Glad I could help. I've heard a number of people suggest I get into speaking audio books. =)
firstly I would like to wish you well and to say a huge thank you for uploading these videos as they have been an invaluable resource to
Glad to hear it worked out! I've forgotten my password just like that many times. =)
How do u reset bios password for Dell venue pro 11 5130 tablet
@@JOK3R4LYF3-JL at star just keep tapping the F12 key until u c the bios menu. There shud b an option. Other way is to simply remove the CMOS lithium battery on the motherboard to reset the bios
Worked perfectly! Except... I was needing to reset a Windows 8 password and only had Windows 10 images... (tried, didn't work) so instead I just booted from a Linux LiveBoot USB and changed it through the Linux terminal instead. Worked like a charm!
Thanks!
Remember though - this isn't a "crack." It's just a sneaky way of resetting a Windows password. =)
Not a crack....
Something else.
Wesley.........THIS Worked! Thanks SO much for the truly educational video AND getting back into a "lost password" PC! All the Best to ya!
Awesome! So happy to hear it. 😄
I was really hoping to see the bat cave plans.
im bulding a spaceship jns.
a
That's awesome. A friend gave me her laptop, that she couldn't remember the password for it. This little hack worked like a charm. Thank you. (Yeah, I know this is a 12 yr old video, just had to say thanks)
Glad it could help! 12 years? My how time flies. =)
Backdoor didn't work i still get on screen keyboard
First, let me state how very well and professionally this video was done. Thank you. Next, this worked perfectly. My only mistake was to accidentally type in "rem" instead of "ren" for my instructions to rename the files. It's okay, I just have more work to do. Thanks for the help.
That's a tough spot. You'll somehow need to get the drivers for that storage card loaded so that you can see the hard drives. That's not something I can help with, sadly.
Loved all the peripheral information. Very well made. Reminded me of concepts I haven't thought about in ages (EFS).
You have to go back through the process of booting into a live CD and changing the file names back. You can't change those file names while Windows is running.
I'm not david
You can change the files back, but have to go into the security settings in the properties of the files and change ownership and grant full rights to the files first.
I must say thanks, this has video has helped me many times in the past and even so now, and this really defines how vulnerable a computer is if you have physical access to it. I have used this method to help people get back into their computers without damaging anything and it also helped me for when I received a computer as a gift and they didn't include any of the passwords.
what if u did not have a windows disc
i do not have one
how to get cmd on the log in screen
See if you can boot to another partition. Many computers have a recovery partition.
He did a very good job imo. Explaining the basics step by step. English is not my first language and I have no experience in using DAWs
This literally just saved my life. Excellent tutorial...
it can broken something
You deserve youtube award of the year. TNice tutorials video truly nails it! Very well explained... The way you cut the bullsNice tutorialt and get straight to it..
how did you open the window for the windows 2000
How much have you improved since that point that you said tNice tutorials ? I’m deciding whether I should buy it or not
Security is an illusion
Awesome video man keep up the good work
Just would like to say thanks for assisting me in fixing a old laptop :3
Great tutorial. It save me from downloading software to crack password. This tutorial is little bit time consuming because is explained every steps. Those who are in a hurry you can skip to 9:18. Thank you Wesley David
Thanks! Yeah I went more for a masterclass format, rather than a quick tutorial. Maybe I should make a second edition that just slams through it all in 3 minutes.
Worked. Thank you! I did need to do a 'net user' command to determine the list of users beforehand. This is because the user I expected to change was something completely different.
As awesome as this vid was, it was your comment that saved me.
no offence , some of us don't have the money to get a second computer ? the computer i got was left behind from the prevoius owner ?
You don't have to spend a dime to do this. You also don't need to buy a second computer. It's just one of several options.
+ wesley : maybe if i kick hard enuff , it may work . jk just little hummor on the side , thank dude :)
Wesley David
thank you for replying back .
Getting someone's password is illegal, reporting this video
Instructions not very clear i got my grandma stuck in the washing machine. HELP?
TNice tutorials tutorial was worth it, I understood everytNice tutorialng now
Is that when you boot into the recovery disk to rename osk.exe and cmd.exe or afterwards?
all i can say is this is a windows computer saver. worked perfectly, but i used a windows 7 home premium 64bit recovery dvd i had made for my system when i bought it the same day, i made it then. and it saved my butt today.
This worked on my vista! Thank you so much! :-D
If you have physical access to the computer, you can always access any unencrypted files. Just take the hard drive and put in another computer where you have an OS installed. But the trick in this video is nice because you can more conveniently see the user account's settings and such.
LOL'd at "That is a funny looking on-screen keyboard." Thx for the information bruh. really helpful stuff ^_^
thank you, my daughter changed her password and lost it ! a true muppet ! you saved the day, thanks
it says "the file cannot be accessed by the system" what do i do??
That is what I am getting as well, with my old vista disk as well as my windows 7 disk. I tried older installs, like three XP disks but all three give me a BSOD after loading files and attempting to run their setup. I even tried a windows 98se but I think it doesn't recognize NTFS drives and I only had access to A:\ with that.
I tried that "whoami" command from the command prompt and it is not recognized as an internal or external command. I think I'm going to remove my windows installation drive, install it into another computer and change the file names from there.
Your first of many side notes should have been "You will need a boot disk to perform this task." Feel free to paraphrase.
The basics. Secure room with solid door and good locks. Steel cabnet or cage for the system with good physical protection. Make sure your case has unique bit screws, (don't lose the bit!) Lock down your BIOS and HDD (if capable) with passwords. A chip based finger print scanner works nicely too. Disable and secure USB ports, epoxy works nicely :) Remove or disable external media drives. Rename the Administrator account with an ascii symbol, and password protect it with a complex password. Don't leave this blank *default*. Disable it AFTER you create your main standard user account. Finally, ENCRYPT EVERYTHING. Those are some ideas to SLOW DOWN unauthorized access on Windows. I've given up the idea of making systems "unhackable". There is no such animal. BUT at least I can make it a bitch to get into. They've got to earn it.
+Ivan Simer exactly what my instrutor in my IT classes taught us. (Nothing is unhackable, not even the government. Physical and virtual security of a computer is only as good as the defense you put into it)
IT Security classes left me absolute sure of my security (read: paranoid, but thats to the uneducated lol, theres no such thing as paranoia in IT, only contingency plans and training lol) and here is the followin of mine.
Laptop: BIOS/HDD User&Administrator Passwords randomized up to 10-14 characters each, but easy for me. (Must enter HDD&BIOS User/Admin passwrod to boot the system and continue boot up (used this to prevent CD boot loading or network OS loading before authentication. "first layer" of defense)
-Secured admin accounts and only have 2 active on system (mine and a backup), reset Administrator account to a different name and reset password. Also enabled secure logon (ctl alt delte) and classic style of login (username and password before you can login, also works in sleep or hibernate, if you don't know it you're out of luck)
A few other things ive done to harden my system from Network attack as well and overall encryption of files and such (double layered truecrypt file with different passwords and keyfiles with AES, hehe break me now b***h, I'll make sure you spend the next 30 years trying) XD
wawmjansens2 Yep, you're getting good info from your instructor. If someone really wants to get 'in', all it takes is time, money and mad skills. They might have to get down to circut board or even chip level but if you have engineering schematics for those, you can manipulate all kinds of stuff. At the least you can break or interrupt services. Remember when Microsoft announced that Windows Vista was unhackable? HAHA! Talk about begging to get owned. Never ever piss off a hacker or throw a challenge their way. Not a good plan. It amazes me that our entire infrastructure remains up. A lot of today's 'security' is actually obscurity. Massive flaws exist in the design of the internet infrastructure. Most servers and PCs have some fundamental flaws at the hardware level and certainly OS level. They are largely unknown but to a handful of people, thank god. But as more and more breaches happen, that obscurity becomes dangerously public.
HAHA YES i remember those days, Windows 8 too, we in our IT Sec classes actually took it down and infected it through a bad backdoor (which is now patched by our report to them afterwards) in less then 35 minutes. yeea we got told "Never challenege someone unless your prepared to back it up and that you have the knowledge AND skill to do so, cause you're a fool if you don't otherwise" Im shocked our infrastructure remains up too! but hey its what good engineers and techs are for, right ;) XD We are simply told, "well we are never safe, your network, software, and hardware are always at risk. Do your best with the skills we are gving you because otherwise you'll find yourself out of a job real fast if that breach is on your hands." hehehehe paraniod, you ask? I call it "being prepared and vigilant" XD
+Ivan Simer bios won't let me to reset anything , eveni have checked for the update software ,and its saying everything was running well. \
You are a godsend. I created a password earlier today when I became upset at my brother so he couldnt use my computer when I was gone. Later in the day (after like 7 hours) I just remembered I had set a password but had completely no idea what it was. Luckily I was still logged in so I didnt need to use the boot media. I simple just used the net user command in the command prompt. Sooooo easy, I was downloading these stupid ophhacker program and looking into screwing with the system32 files opposed to resetting the password from the computer management because I didnt want to mess with my EFS. This has helped me immensely, I thank you so much.
How did you get to the blue screen? I'm lost
i borrow your phone number
Having external boot enabled is another must here.
Wesley.......great job. When through numerous trial with "Crack" programs. None worked. Purchased a PC from a charity thrift store with Win Vista. Had PW from prev. user and no notes. Used Slax Lunix OS CD to make the changes. Became your 5K subscriber.
Dude I haven't done it yet but I know you just gave me the information I need in that video to fix my laptop you freaking Rock thank you!!!!!
Awesome! Let me know how it goes. :D
Will this work on a windows 10 computer? I'm desperate and there are literally no videos on TH-cam.
+Blahblah1734 Yes, it will. Just get a bootable device that can write to an NTFS volume. Even Ubuntu discs these days can do that. Rename cmd.exe and osk.exe, boot back up, and you'll be able to follow the video just the same.
+Wesley David Have to admit i have no clue what you mean when you say "get a bootable device that can write to an NTFS volume". (Im kinda new to all of this) Anyway all im trying to do is simply get onto my brothers computer. I locked myself out trying to set it up (its brand new) and we have no clue what the password is. I found a article on how to make a "booter" (or what ever its called) and im trying to follow how to put it on a flash drive then use your tutorial. The program im using is called MediaCreationTool. Idk if you know what that is but yea.
Also using your method if successfully completed will my brother be able to fully use the computer or will he be limited ?
+Blahblah1734 That should work. Even Ubuntu CDs can work since they know how to read and write to a Windows drive. Whatever you do just boot into a different operating system from a CD or USB drive, then click your way to the hard drive, look for the Windows folder, etc. that you see in the video. Ultimately, just do whatever you need to do to get cmd.exe renamed to osk.exe and then reboot into Windows.
+Blahblah1734 There's not going to be anything different about your brother's computer once this is done.
This is all good and well apart from i am locked out from booting from a disk, the BIOS settings have it so i cant do so, any way to get around it?
The BIOS is password protected? You can normally reset that with a switch on the motherboard. You'll need to look for the motherboard's manuals to find out how to clear the BIOS/CMOS password.
Or a jumper.
not if its an eeprom password holding chip. some u can change by taking the chip off and reprogramming it. or buy a compatible blank chip (some cant be reprogrammed) then soldering in its place (some u can program then solder in). u can also jump the chip by bypassing a few of the 8 prongs with a piece of solder. jumpers on motherboards are getting rare. it depends if its a laptop (especially newer workstation computers/laptops) or a PC as to the chances of the chip being able to be bypassed or not.
Bios security by using a separate chip is becoming popular. Can try removing the cmos battery, and unplugging the PCs power (removing laptop battery to if its a laptop). if the below comments didn't work, and removing all power (batteries and cord) and waiting about 24hrs (you can speed up power drain by continuously hitting power button) didnt either you probably have a hardware powerless password retaining chip. search by the exact model and S/N P/N of the motherboard. For it to be nearly impossible to change then its a security centered workstation/server computer (meant to be secure even if lost/stolen dunno why youd have such a computer). if its not keep plugging away and work the problem. Chip programmers are cheap and have relatively simple software.
Brin Mag is there any other way you know about or are familiar with
It's my first day of soft School, and I can tell I'm going to like my teacher!
I love you man your a freakin genius!
continuing to save lives.. 7 years later..
It's been a wild ride. :D
was very helpful n quick n easy !!!
thanks a lot :D
Thank you, have had this problem many times before and have given up on my laptops. I'll give this a try and hope for the best. Thanks again.
Hi Landy, sorry if this is a bit random but can I ask your opinion on some customer support questions?
Be my guest! You're welcome to it.
Very well presented...It got me out of a difficult situation...Many thanks for taking the time to make the video..
Glad it's still helping people after all these years! =)
this efs method is useless, the point of that is , because well. if u loose ur password and change it like that... u change it because u obviously forgot it ! then how the fuck should you remember the old password to set it back again to acces the efs files... logicly ....
good point. but you could create a new admin account with cmd then use it to CHANGE the old account pass that you "forgot"!
Deiu D nice stuff. next time my bro forgets his passwords i will have to try them out
yeah this is smarter then doing all this then wastes time
The old pSsword he configured is the one he made . Like when logged out and update psswds online . The device makes u use previous logged n psswrd before new one is set. Ugh
I just wanted to give my mother a fixed laptop for Christmas and i have to do a mission impossible quest for the laptop to be useful xD
Some ungrateful comments from people with bad ass attitudes.....
I thought it was a real eye opener and shows the shocking security gaps in MS products. At least EFS seemed to hold its own though.
I saw the video on bypassing logon passwords by 'Ultimate Peter' and again the CMD prompt was the key, although it was needed with administrator rights, which MS kindly supplied with the right file changes made.
If I could afford a MAC I would migrate tomorrow......
Thanks for the Vid... very clear
Glad to be of service! =)
Yeah, that's pretty fantastic.
Ive been using the rename cmd.exe to Magnify. Then start windows at logon panel look for accessibility options and launch screen magnifier. If renamed correctly, now you should have a logged in command prompt. Now use 'net user "username" "new password" '
"If I could afford a MAC I would migrate tomorrow..."
Every platform has its flaws and holes. Don't think that switching to a Mac would somehow make you invulnerable.
I prefer Linux both personally and professionally and have found that preventing access to the root account is a waste of time since there are so many ways around the standard lock downs. ...and Linux is supposed to be ridiculously secure.
Mathew Snyder OpenBSD for the win. My choice, personally, though you're right no system is 100% secure. Although few folks have been able to figure out my OpenVMS system...even when they have a valid login.
I've just used this method to re-gain my account. I've always used auto-logon so totally forgotten it. Thanks Wesley. My PC is Windows 8.1 64bit by the way.
This is awesome!
You're a Superman fan, aren't you?
excellent thanks for the inside help.....
interesting
thanks man had an old laptop i forgot the password to for years was able to get access using this method and recover my old photos :)
You guys are really not helping anyone. How do I use the machine I am locked out of to get back into that same machine??? What if a person doesn't have access to any other machine but the one that you are locked out of???
I have the same issue, pls let me know when u find a solution the solution. Thank you sir
omg ur so funny he showed you how on video just follow the steps
Vincent Patrick No they have not shown you how! This did not help me one bit!!! I am locked out of a desktop, don't remember the password, and I guess there is no hope for me. Just be real!!!
Carl Mitchell couldn't you just go to a friends house and get the needed things?
Carl Mitchell If you are operating Win7, simply start the system up and forcefully shut it down while booting a few times, eventually Startup repair will self activate (once it does, do not touch anything until it asks for user input) and will attempt to "fix" the problem and will probably recommend a System Restore (do not take the option, instead click no and go into Advanced Options), here you will find the Command Prompt option. (one hidden trick of the Recovery CMD is you effectually become the "system" account, like shown in the vid, which is unrestricted. I purposely disabled this setting in my 7 Professional group policy and local security editor to shut down this avenue for a hacker from doing this exact thing, and as such, any Admin level account must be pre-authenticated with proper password before the system will allow Admin/Root level access, just a tip to the wise minded, ok enough chatter)
Type the following commands into your DOS Prompt as follows.
-net user "your username of account you want access to here, exact spelling is preferred" followed by a space and a star ( * ) then hit enter
-the system will prompt you at this point to enter a password, enter the NEW password you want here, and hit enter
-confirm the password again exactly, then hit enter. The system will either complete the operation or will show "access is denied" if running a non admin session in the CMD prompt. Exit the command prompt and select "shut down"
-Wait for the system to shut down and reboot the system, it might launch Startup Repair again, dont be alarmed if it does. Otherwise when the login screen appears, use the password you just entered to login.You have just reset your password the easy way.
Any questions feel free to reply and i can assist. Thanks (I am not responsible for any misuse of this instruction which may lead to data or system loss)
Awesome Trick! Just did it on a 2008 Server. Worked like a charm. Thank you!
9:02 "Grand daddy" xD
Thank u for being a great human being and taking ti to help all of us noobs out cheers
dude… I'm a total Flintstone in a Jetson world. Tell me in caveman speak,… how I *get my HP PC online,…please sign in with last password used on this PC*… I have tried every password I remember but no dice!!… Tried Google, couldn't find how… Dawned on me 'TH-cam??'… BUT watched a few, cant find my same HP PC… Like I said, Sorry, … Newbie to cyber-ville. Any help explaining to a newbie … Appreciate it
call somebody professional :D
Having tried a number of potential solutions that turned out to be blind alleys, it was a relief to find this excellent clip. The only snag I hit was due to the fact that the only Windows install disk I had was Windows 7 and Ms appear to have removed the menu used to access the recovery console. So renaming osk.exe and cmd.exe was a problem. There may be a better alternative but in the end I created a Linux bootable disk from the Linux site and, running Linux from the disk (obviously don't install), I was able to rename the two exe files. The rest was as per your instructions. Finally I used Linux again to reset the exe files to their original names. Many thanks.
be good ........ :(
Thanks...nice video. The EFS encrypted files....does Windows automatically encrypt the Documents, Photos, Videos, Downloads, etc. folder contents? Or were those files you had EFS?
All script kiddies are coming here.
So your a script kiddie too right?
ultraairsoftbrandt nope was just bored looking on YoUTube
oh okay.
but this isnt a script kiddie video. its an actual vulnerability.
I feel like it's no exaggeration to say you are a godsend. I've been making my own soft since i was 14ish and since then it's beco my
Not useful, thumbs down.
why
Wesley I am in bad shape. Each time I turn on device (8.1) the password box appears. Have gone into safe mode to change boot path. I have created an 8.1 boot disk and the computer will not pay attention to it. Please please help me. This is for my 96 year old dad who did something to this device. Thank you
You left info out such as liveUSB which you listed as an option in your video. Thanks for your efforts to help, not hating. The burden is on me to dig a little deeper.
Larry Miller does doing this method delete any of your files, music, etc?